Kogi State Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Hon. Abanika Ohiani Taiye, has assured residents of Governor Usman Ododo’s commitment to provision of affordable houses for the people of the state.
Speaking on the Radio Kogi Audience Participatory Programme, ‘State of Kogi’, in Lokoja on Monday, Hon Abanika said the state government is working out plans to address the housing deficit gap in the state.
he explained that rural-urban migration as well as significant economic expansion has led to an increase in the population of residents of Lokoja, the state capital, leading to housing deficit.
He stated that the state government has allocated land for the building of housing units by the Federal Housing Authority and the Renewed Hope Housing Project of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to him, while about four hundred housing estate under the Family Home Fronts are to be built, Governor Ododo is also making plans to build housing estates across the state.
Hon Abanika stated that the government is also considering the public private partnership (PPP) option to develop the sector.
The Commissioner noted that the present administration is ready to build modern and smart cities across the state, saying the proposed airport is part of the urbanization effort being made by government.
He expressed optimism that provision of massive and affordable houses will crash house rents in the state.
It is no longer news that Nigeria has a huge housing deficit estimated at 20 to 25 million units.
For the nation to bridge the huge gap of housing’s deficit, experts have estimated that it would need to build one million housing units per annum for the next 20 years.
Another set of experts estimated that Nigeria would need N21 trillion to solve its housing deficit.
